Poppy Profusion: A Sculptural Surprise is Back at the Morris For this year's Bees, Butterflies & Blooms: A Pollinator Paradise exhibition, we are reimagining the 2008 sculptural installation by the late artist Gary G. Miller,  bringing these giant poppies back to delight a new generation of visitors. Image The original giant poppies, Papaver Rubrum Giganteum , designed and installed in 2008 by the late artist Gary G. Miller at Morris Arboretum & Gardens.  In spring 2008, the Morris Arboretum & Gardens burst into bloom with something truly unexpected—300 giant red poppies swaying in the breeze across the Northwestern Meadows. This larger-than-life sculptural installation, titled Papaver Rubrum Giganteum , was created by the late artist Gary G. Miller and became a showstopping highlight of the Morris’s 75th anniversary celebration and the launch of its Always Growing capital campaign. Positioned just inside the Stenton and Northwestern Avenue gates, the field of towering poppies captivated visitors with its surreal scale and vibrant color. Each flower reached nearly ten feet in height, crafted from aluminum sheet stock and painted in shades of red. Engineered to move with the wind, the installation transformed the serene meadow into a kinetic landscape of art and nature. A collaboration with Woodmere Art Museum, Papaver Rubrum Giganteum reflected Miller’s passion for accessibility and public engagement. Known for his large-scale outdoor works—including The Big Nothing , Takeout to Go , Inside/Outside: Celebrating Robert Venturi , and Whirligigs —Miller brought his signature sense of playfulness and conceptual depth to the Morris for its visitors to marvel at and enjoy.   Image Gary G. Miller standing with his poppies in spring 2008 in front of the Pumphouse at Morris Arboretum & Gardens.  For this year's Bees, Butterflies & Blooms: A Pollinator Paradise exhibition, we are reimagining these giant poppies, bringing them back to delight a new generation of visitors. …

Membership FAQ Membership FAQ Image FAQ Can I apply paid admission to my membership? The admission price paid by the persons included in the membership onsite or online may be applied on the same day of your visit. Does the Morris offer digital membership cards? Yes! You will receive the link to download your digital membership card within 24 hours of purchase. Your digital membership card can be downloaded into your Apple or Android Wallet and can be scanned onsite for quick entry. Click here  to download your digital membership card to your online wallet. I renewed/joined online, now what? When you purchase your membership online, you will receive a proof of purchase receipt via email to use immediately. If you choose to visit the Morris before our system has fully processed your membership, you may simply bring a copy of your email receipt and give your name to the attendant at the front gate. Once your digital membership is fully processed, you may present your digital membership card to the attendant at the kiosk. If you’ve opted out of digital membership, your membership card will arrive in the mail within 10 –  15 business days. What is the Member General Admission Allowance? Members will receive a daily admission allowance that matches their membership level. For example, if you are a Supporter member, you will receive a total of 4 free daily general admissions plus the number of any Add-On Youth Passes you’ve purchased. Members receive 50% off general admission tickets so you can enjoy your visit with as many friends and family as you like. Members must accompany their guests at the time of their visit. What are the general guidelines for the different membership levels? Our membership program brings you flexibility in choosing with whom you will share your membership benefits. Memberships can be shared between people living in different households and any named member can bring guests to Morris, as long as the number of adults and children doesn’t exceed …

Bees, Butterflies & Blooms: A Pollinator Paradise Bees, Butterflies & Blooms: A Pollinator Paradise Image Image   May 23 through September 30, 2025 Calling all pollinators and pollinator lovers! Morris Arboretum & Gardens becomes a paradise for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators in its newest exhibition, Bees, Butterflies & Blooms: A Pollinator Paradise . Each month brings together people, plants, and pollinators in meaningful ways. Throughout the entire season, visitors can enjoy a variety of fun events, from interactive workshops to engaging programs to specialty guided tours, making this exhibition a delightful and eye-opening experience for all ages. Get Tickets → Image Garden Railway: World Pollinators NOW THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30 Experience Garden Railway: World Pollinators , featuring charming miniature trains weaving through a landscape teeming with flowers and buzzing with life! Enjoy miniature trains as they speed along a third of a mile of track and weave through a landscape dotted with spectacular sculptures of pollinators from around the globe, each crafted with incredible detail using natural materials like bark, leaves, twigs, mosses, acorns, dried flowers, seeds, and resin. Learn More Image Hummingbird Hut NOW THROUGH SEPTEMBER 22 Covered in plants that these tiny, iridescent birds love, the Hummingbird Hut offers a close-up view as they flit from bloom to bloom, showcasing their delicate grace. BEES, BUTTERFLIES & BLOOMS KICK-OFF WEEKEND Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25  Join us at the Hummingbird Hut  for storytime, crafts, and science fun all day long! Learn about the connections between plants and pollinators, particularly our friend, the hummingbird! Learn how they pollinate, and how you can attract them to your home.  POLLINATOR FRIDAYS Select Fridays at 11 am Learn about the importance of pollinators with fun activities for all ages: 6/6 -  Butterflies 7/11 - Moths 8/1 - Bees Image Wings & Wildflowers OPENS SATURDAY, JULY 19 Step into a …

The Importance of Pollinators Over 80 percent of flowering plants and about a third of our food plants depend on bees for pollination. Image Aster in the Rose Garden. Photo by Lynn Weaver. At the height of the dinosaur age, roughly 130 million years ago, the first flowering plants appeared.  Whereas pinecones are suited for wind pollination, flowers are designed specifically to attract and accommodate insects, birds and, rarely, mammals. Flowering plants arose as if from nowhere in the fossil record and rapidly increased in variety over the next 50 million years. Today, they account for about 94 percent of plants on earth—that is nearly 400,000 species! Compare that to the mere 20,000 ferns, clubmosses, cycads, and conifers alive today. What happened 130 million years ago to facilitate this remarkable explosion of flowers? In a letter to his friend Dr. Joseph Hooker, Charles Darwin wrote, famously, “The rapid development as far as we can judge of all the higher plants within recent geological times is an abominable mystery.” While we may never know for sure, the answer to this mystery is likely bees. About the same time flowering plants began their rapid evolution, the first bees appeared in the fossil record. Sweat bees, bumble bees, leaf-cutter bees, miner bees, honeybees—over 80 percent of modern flowering plants and about a third of our food plants depend on them for pollination. Bees, along with other pollinators such as moths, butterflies, and hummingbirds, are exponentially more efficient than wind at transporting pollen, and for several reasons are much more effective at driving evolution and variety, too. Although the honeybee is not native to Pennsylvania, the Keystone State is home to more than 430 species of native bees, along with 125 kinds of butterflies, 350 types of pollinating moths, and one species of hummingbird! So far, we have documented almost 200 native bees, and, of course, plenty of ruby-throated hummingbirds on our grounds here at the …

Smith Walk's Tree Metamorphosis Morris Arboretum & Gardens' Urban Forestry Consultants, in conversation with the Office of the University Architect and Operations & Maintenance departments, determined it's time to remove six declining honeylocusts ( Gleditsia triacanthos ) along  the oldest pedestrian walk on Penn's campus, and are  developing a plan for the reuse of the wood and the planting of new trees in their place. One of the routine but very important decisions Penn’s landscape and urban forestry professionals must make every year is when to remove trees on campus and if those trees can be used in new or innovative ways. The campus is an official arboretum and the caretakers of it take numerous factors into account before making these decisions. This year, after much deliberation, the Morris Arboretum & Gardens' Urban Forestry Consultant team, in conversation with the Office of the University Architect and Operations & Maintenance departments in Facilities and Real Estate Services, determined it is time to schedule the removal of six of the remaining seven honeylocusts ( Gleditsia triacanthos ) on Smith Walk. They are also developing a plan for the reuse of the honeylocusts and the planting of new trees in their place. Image Figure 1: Fall colors of Smith Walk, Fall 2024, Chloe Cerwinka. Image "Smith Walk, stair from 33rd Street looking northwest toward Towne Building - University of Pennsylvania, Smith Walk, Bounded by Walnut, 33rd, 34th & Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA Photos from Survey HABS PA-6179," George E. Thomas, published 1995, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. A major consideration this year was the health of these trees and the lack of species diversity that contributed to their decline. These six honeylocusts have a documented history of myriad pests and diseases including honeylocust plant bugs ( Diaphnocoris chlorionis ), spider mites ( Platytetranychus multidigituli ), and …

The Afterlife of Trees: How Deadwood Can Resurrect Your Garden While bewitchingly befitting for ArBOOretum Month , we assure you the deadwood in our gardens is not simply decor: We incorporate wood from felled trees into our gardens not only as a natural way to add interest, but also to attract biodiversity and support the ecosystem. When walking around Morris Arboretum & Gardens, you may notice the trunks of dead trees, also known as snags, protruding from between living trees. Or perhaps  you’ve seen stump, branches, and other parts of felled trees used as garden borders and creative design. While bewitchingly befitting for ArBOOretum Month , we assure you this is not simply decor: The Morris incorporates deadwood from felled trees into our gardens not only as a natural way to add interest, but also to attract biodiversity and support the ecosystem. Image Figure 1: An eastern hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) snag, across from the Log Cabin, provides habitat and food for animals and insects, as well as nutrients for the soil.  Snags provide habitat and shelter for wildlife while also releasing nutrients into the soil as they decay. Take this eastern hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) snag (Figure 1), for example. It provides a home for animals and insects, insects provide meals for birds, and nutrients from the decaying wood enrich the soil. Notice the small holes in the trunk, presumably made by critters who moved in, and the mushrooms growing at the base that consume the complex organic material from the decaying tree (Figure 2)—a process that is essential to the forest ecosystem. Living trees sequester carbon throughout their lifespans (sometimes for centuries) and they continue to do so after death. Deadwood such as stumps, logs, and standing snags also play a vital role in carbon storage. While trees begin to release carbon back into the environment upon dying, this process can be remarkably slow. Stumps may retain carbon for decades, and logs, depending on the species …

Penn Today Q&A with Chief Arborist Peter Fixler The lead arborist at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens discusses his interest in tree work, how trees benefit the planet, the tallest tree he has climbed, current research at Morris, and its impact in America and beyond. Image Paul W. Meyer Chief Arborist Peter Fixler    The late actor John Candy once remarked that actors don’t get paid to act, they get paid to sit around and wait, and act for free because of their love of the craft. The same applies to Peter Fixler and his work as lead arborist at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens. He says he gets paid to do administrative and management work and climbs the trees for free. “I’m definitely the happiest when I’m climbing trees,” he says. “The physicality and the mental challenge of it is what I love.” Hired by the Morris in 2020, Fixler aids in nurturing and maintaining the vast and diverse collection of more than 4,170 trees on the Morris’s property in Chestnut Hill. He says his No. 1 priority as an arborist is to make sure the trees are healthy and hazard-free. “Most people don’t realize how much goes into keeping trees healthy and safe,” says Fixler. “We’re always assessing things like deadwood or root health—small issues that, if left unchecked, could eventually pose problems.” Penn Today visited the Morris, the official arboretum of Pennsylvania, to chat with Fixler about his interest in tree work, how trees benefit the planet, the tallest tree he has climbed, current research at the Morris, and its impact in the region and beyond.   How did you become interested in tree work? I graduated with a degree in biology and an interest in microbiology. I did work in some labs in my younger days and kind of went in and out of tree work. Eventually, I committed to it because I saw the potential to make a living. I think trees are the greatest medium because no other living organism grows larger or lives longer than a tree. I thought that was really cool. Besides water and …